Paper Doll:Cut Along The Dotted Line
by JessieDoll
Summary: The Oak Laboratory is invaded by 2 fashionistas on a mission, and they rope poor Tracey in for the wild ride! It's 'Fashion-101' for the style deficient in a world where the best dressed call the shots.
1. Heart Shaped Padlock

1Paper Doll: Cut Along The Dotted Line

Chapter 1

Heart Shaped Padlock

One upon a time on a blue sphere in space there was a little, quiet place (where not much excitement happened) called Pallet Town. And in that town was a research lab on a hill, and in that lab lived the famous Professor Oak and his faithful assistant Tracey.

Their lives were very uneventful, but as long as they had their work to do they didn't mind really. Routines day in and day out were better than not knowing what to do at all, their research was very important. Without the Professor the world wouldn't know so much about the strange creatures he studied called 'Pokemon'. And without an assistant to keep nagging him on in his old age, the Professor would probably have plenty of notes but they would all be disorganized and hard to read.

So to a regular onlooker things appeared to be very boring at the Oak Lab, more dull than watching re-runs of old soap operas at 4 in the morning. But this peace and quiet was about to come to a very LOUD halt, and it all happened of a warm cloudless day in a little place called Pallet Town…

The screeching of tires jolted Tracey from his reading ('Strange Deaths' by John Dunning, an morbid choice for the teen), stuffing the last of an apple slice into his gob he jumped up from the couch and ran to the window. He couldn't see anything past the tall shrubs, but he could hear plenty. Two female voices, laughing and chatting about something but he couldn't make out any real words. They were getting closer, the teenager could hear them walking up the path towards the front door. He rushed to it but didn't open right away; instead he let the visitors knock and waited a few seconds.

"Helloooo? Uncle Sam?" One with a very bubbly voice called out and knocked again.

Tracey finally resolved to open the door, his curiosity was killing him. Very slowly he poked his head out and saw two tall women standing on the doormat. "Uh…hello?" He managed to squeak as they stared down at him with their cold grey eyes, they looked like the kind of people that could smell fear seeping out of a persons pores.

One of them broke the awkward silence and spoke. "Where's Uncle Sam?" The owner of the bubbly voice asked. She had pink hair, white oval glasses and a nose ring. The chubby woman shoved past and knocked Tracey into the door frame, she was followed by a slightly taller, slim female with light purple hair in a spiky ponytail and scary looking leather boots on her feet. She also wore glasses and had extra holes in her face that made Tracey cringe.

"Well, where is he?" The pink fat one demanded looking right down at him with a frown, her round nose reminded him of a jelly bean.

All Tracey could do was point towards the back of the house; the girls clomped off loudly like Rapidash down the hall leaving a trail of dirt behind them. Grabbing a broom from the nearby closet Tracey started sweeping up their mess, they hadn't even been there for a minute and already these strange looking women were turning the place upside down.

Toros in a china shop, the saying was probably coined just for them.

When he was finished Tracey's interest got the best of him, who were these women and why were they disturbing the peace? If he knew more about this species of female, it might be possible to avoid or even get rid of them! Did they make repellant for loud women that pushed boys into doorways and gave them bruises? Had science even come that far yet?!

Putting the broom away he took off to the back of the house, they were outside with the Professor on the patio laughing at something as he watched through the screen door. The one with the purple hair was wearing a little grey plaid skirt with a studded belt, a zip-up white and navy blue t-shirt of some sort and she had the omega symbol tattooed on her right arm. Next to her the pink haired one was in a short polka-dot dress that was a few shades lighter than the color of her hair, white ballet flats and chunky plastic jewelry.

Only people that dressed that silly came from the city, Tracey wondered where exactly they came from to get away with ridiculous outfits like that.

Suddenly the taller woman spotted him, Professor Oak noticed her glaring and waved at his assistant to come outside. Hesitantly he did, feeling the eyes of the women watching him as he trotted over starring at his feet. Tracey theorized that maybe if he didn't look them in the eyes they couldn't devour his soul.

"Girls, this is Tracey. He works here with me; I promise he won't be a disturbance at all." The old man said, at the same time the two women crossed their arms.

"Heh, yeah we kinda met already…I'm Fran Cactus." The pink haired one announced, "didn't realize you studied Pokemon _and_ stray kids, Uncle Sam!"

"And I'm Alexis Orchid." The other one said with a smirk revealing what Tracey saw was a fang. "Do ya bruise easy, kid?"

Tracey put on his best smile and said, "you two ladies are just charming!" Of course that was a big fat lie, his impression of them was not a good one so far and he sensed that they picked up on his sarcasm. Fran and Alexis, the names of the enemies…and what was the Professor yammering about?

Professor Oak, who was dwarfed by both Fran and Alexis, put a hand on their shoulders and started leading them back towards the building. "Well, how about you two go and start unpacking? The sooner you get that done the sooner you can get started!"

Fran smiled and kissed the old man on the cheek. "Thanks Uncle Sam!" She grabbed Alexis by the wrist and ran back inside, once they were out of ear shot Professor Oak sighed deeply and shook his head.

"This is going to be a long month."

That comment startled Tracey. "A MONTH? What are you talking about?"

Professor Oak settled down into a fold up lawn chair and started to tell his story. "Well, you see I received an urgent e-mail before going to bed last night. It was from Alexis, she explained that next door to the girls flat in the city a development was being built. Apparently with all the noise they can't concentrate on getting things done for the competition they're entered in."

"Why didn't you just say no? I don't know if I'LL be able to concentrate with them here. They came through the front door and literally left a mess behind them!" Tracey informed him, he could only imagine what a month with them was going to be like. Dirty dishes stacked like sky scrapers in the kitchen, feminine hygiene products littering the bathrooms and dozens of shoes crammed into the hallway. He envisioned complete chaos and destruction, giving it a week before the roof finally caved in and killed them all.

Professor Oak shook his head again. "I just couldn't. They're daughters of old friends of mine, known them since they couldn't even say Pikachu properly."

With a vision of the apocalypse still prominent in his head, Tracey slumped into the chair next to the Professor. "Are you sure about this?"

"Not at all, but I might go into town and visit the psychic tomorrow just in case…"

The sounds of the girls dragging things in the front door ripped through the serenity of nature around them, both jumped when they heard a loud crash as something breakable hit the wood floor inside.

A moment later Alexis shouted "Opps! Sorry! I'll pay for that Uncle Sam!"

The old man just grabbed his lemonade from the table and tried to pretend his home wasn't being destroyed, however it was very difficult to ignore a pair like Fran and Alexis. He could remember them quite clearly as two little girls, little wrecking balls in running shoes and pigtails. They once demolished a coffee table with their 'dancing', and years later the Professor was still trying to get the 'vomit rainbow' stains out of his good carpet from the time they chowed on candy and orange soda before bed the one night he babysat them.

"Professor? Professor?"

Oak blinked and came back from his recollection of colorful memories, Tracey was tapping him on the shoulder. "Oh! Sorry, er…what was I saying?"

"Nothing," Tracey corrected him. "But I wanted to ask, what exactly ARE they doing here?"

"We're going to kick ass and chop off heads! All in the name of fashion of course!" Fran said dramatically as she hung up more dresses in the small closet, she was running out of space and trying to stuff as many in as possible.

Tracey had gone inside to help the girls after talking with Oak, but mostly to make sure they didn't damage anything else. To his surprise, the girls tossed Pokeballs at him. They really didn't seem the type to own any Pokemon, but they both had two. Alexis with a Ghastly and a Squirtle, Fran with a Bellossom and Jigglypuff. The monsters were more than happy to get out and go prance around in the back, Tracey wondered how long it had been since they had last seen a tree or grass by their gleeful reaction.

Alexis pulled a large black folder out of a box and tossed it at Tracey who was sitting cross legged on one of the beds amongst a giant pile of stuffed Pokemon. "That's the battle plan you're looking at. Not complete as of yet, but with the peace and serenity here it and everything else we have planned should end up looking almost perfect."

Nodding Tracey flipped opened the folder, it was full of messy looking dress designs that had chunks of fabric stapled to the pages, messy notes were written in the corners for changes they had in mind. "So, you're fashion designers?"

"Damn right we are, even got our own label." With a grunt Alexis ripped opened another box, she took out a wad of dark fabric and threw it at him. "Here, you can keep that. It's from last years line of graphic t-shirts."

Tracey unfolded the garment, it was a dark green with an abstract grey design screen printed on it. Somewhere in all the random swirls and blotches he saw the words 'SugarHigh" along with a small heart that had the omega symbol slapped in the middle of it. "Uh…thanks." He replied not sure whether he was fond of it or not and went back to the folder. "So, if you already have your own company, why bother entering a competition to work for a label you don't own?"

Fran flopped down next to him snapping clips onto a lock of her hair. "Because it's always been our dream to work for 'Charmy Bites', and even if we don't win and get on the design team at least we'll be able to show the world that SugarHigh isn't just t-shirts and jeans. Our entire submission for the contest is all elegant dresses, this could be our chance to get into the high fashion world!"

Tracey didn't quite understand, so Fran picked up a few of her stuffed Pokemon to help her explain. "Okay, lets say this Caterpie is Alexis and I. The competition is like us evolving into Metapod, and in the end we'll become a Butterfree! Something beautiful that everyone can admire."

"I suppose I get it…just tell me one thing. You're not submitting this mess with your entry, are you?" Tracey pointed to their mish-mash of a folder, he was right. No judge would be happy seeing a contestant give them something with grease stains on the pages or notes flying everywhere.

"It's not finalized yet, Fran still has to redo the drawings…RIGHT?" Alexis eyed her partner, Fran grinned sheepishly.

"I just haven't gotten around to them yet!"

"That's the same excuse you gave me last week! If this fashion reject can see that it's a crap presentation then we need to get it done!"

"Hey! My fingers have been hurting from putting all those little beads on the Dratini dress!"

The two women argued back and fourth furiously, Tracey could see why they wanted to finish their work somewhere quiet, the stress of being in a city would be enough for them to murder each other. But if they kept going like this they were never going to get their entries completed in time, one of them would be strangled to death with measuring tape and the other would be in a prison cell calling some other woman 'Big Mama'.

That's when he got a brilliant idea, of course at the time Tracey had no idea what this quick decision of his would force him to do. "Wait! Ladies, please stop arguing for just a moment please?"

Mid-spat they both paused and looked at him, their eyes angled angrily.

"I-I have a suggestion? If you would just listen?" Tracey gulped and felt his palms getting sweaty, Fran and Alexis relaxed from the fighting poses they had assumed and waited for him too speak. " Uh, I happen to draw a lot myself. I'm not really experienced with fashion sketches, but I can tackle just about anything you throw at me. And I'm fast too! And organized and thorough, a-"

"Geeze kid, you seem ready to whip out a resume." Alexis commented cutting him off, "so are you saying that YOU would do them for us?"

Tracey nodded, "yes! And I could make it look really professional, not that you girls aren't! But it's clear that you could use just a little help…"

Turning to Fran, Alexis said, "well what do you think?"

"How do we know he's not really Jacob Thorne in disguise?"

This really baffled Tracey, what the heck was a Jacob Thorne?

"Our 'Rival' if you can call him that." Alexis began to explain as she returned to unpacking. "A decent designer…"

"With a personality about as desirable as a zit on your ass!" Fran giggled and hopped off the bed, some of her stuffies tumbled to the floor but she didn't seem to notice. "The guy is a real slime ball, he'll do anything to win. We can't prove it but he snagged the super model Edie for his most recent campaign by slandering us!"

"What did he do?" Tracey asked picking up the fallen stuffed Pokemon and putting them neatly back on the rainbow bed spread.

Alexis snorted, "told her we were trying to launch a fragrance and that we were testing on baby Pokemon. Which is SO not true…but if she was dumb enough to believe him, then they're perfect for working together!" She angrily slammed a spiked collar onto the dresser and growled.

"I see…so Jacob Thorne is public enemy number one." Tracey thought out loud, Fran plopped down next to him again with an opened notebook and handed him a pen.

"Okay, you see this dress I'm wearing? Draw it for me."

Tracey took the pen and glanced at her oddly. "Uh…alright." He shrugged and began scratching lines quickly onto the blank page.

Fran struck and pose and held it. "Consider this your job interview, if I like your sketch you're hired kid."

"I can help out with other things too if it becomes overwhelming for you two…" He said quickly shifting his brown eyes from her to the paper and back again.

"You sure about that?" Alexis walked up behind him and had a look at his work so far, she nodded her approval but still kept a straight lip.

"Well, I know I'm normally very busy around here but I can handle a lot of stress and responsibility. Were you serious about the resume thing? Because I have one of you-"

"No, that was a joke Tracey. You know, something you laugh at?"

"Right…okay. Take a look." He put the pen down and handed the note pad back to Fran, she took it and stared at it with an expressionless face. "Well?"

Fran tilted her head to the side, "well…you captured my baby pudge all too realistically. But you're good, we'll use you."

"The question is, what exactly are you getting out of this? I mean, let's be honest. Us two haven't been the nicest to you so far." Alexis pointed out, hovering over Tracey like a boot camp drill sergeant.

"Would you just believe that I'm a nice guy and want to help out?"

Alexis and Fran exchanged glances and looked back at him, this short lab assistant seemed innocent enough. Maybe too innocent, stepping into their crazy world had the possibility of corrupting him.

"Okay, if you don't know what you want right now we'll draft up a contract and give it to you in the morning. Sound fair?" Fran asked taking the drawing he made and pinning it up on the wall next to a picture of the model Edie, both girls still liked her despite the rumors.

A contract sounded good, and a written one at that! That way whatever deal was made the women could not break their word, the legal document would keep these crazy females from tearing into his flesh and sucking his blood out through his neck. "Sounds good to me!" Tracey said confidently, he was somewhat worried about how he was going to fit this into his schedule but not enough to panic.

"Just realize what you're getting into now, kid." Warned Alexis, "we take our work as seriously as you do. We might just be girls with silly clothes, but they're our life."

Tracey felt one of them flick his ear, it was Fran standing behind him. "You are devoted to us, heart and soul?"

"Yes! Yes already! Just don't put my flesh in a soup and eat me!" He shook her off and got up from the bed. "Well I have to go finish some things up, see you later?"

They both smiled and waved at the same time, it was a little creepy. "Goodbye Tracey."

Not thinking much of their farewell he walked out of the room feeling a little better about their presence, at least now he wasn't so intimidated by them. So if they left clutter on the floor he could ask them to clean it up, or if they made a mess in the kitchen it wouldn't be a death wish asking them politely to take care of it. This month wasn't going to be so bad after all!

Right?

The night was dark and silent, but not all were asleep at the Oak Estate.

The corral was quiet with sleeping pokemon, and all except two people were in dreamland at the house. Long shadows stuck the light green walls in the upstairs hallway, a light clicked off and they disappeared. Fran and Alexis in their pjs snuck out of the small room they shared, each with something in their clasped hands. The object in Fran's hands clanked a little, Alexis held something with a thin chain that glittered. Quietly the women slipped into the room next to them where Tracey slept, it was small like theirs and everything was orderly and had a place. Thankfully for them the curtains were opened and moonlight poured in to light their way.

The women slowly approached the sleeping teenager as he slept blissfully unaware of them, snoring a little and wearing the t-shirt he'd been given by them earlier. Alexis poked his face with a skinny finger to see if he was a heavy sleeper or not. When he didn't even flinch at her prodding, Fran stepped in and loomed over like a storm on the horizon.

"You gave us your heart, you gave us your soul." Whispered Alexis as Fran reached down and slipped something around Tracey's neck, his eyes fluttered for a moment and they froze but he did not awaken.

Fran finished the job, there was a click and it was done…

Their work done they exited the room as quietly as they entered, Alexis still held the object she walked in with and put it around her own neck. They returned to their room and slipped back under the covers, the morning was sure to be unique...

Tracey's dark green hair was a puff ball when he woke up early in the morning, sticking out from all angles as the result of an unsettling nightmare he had sometime in the night. He dreamt of two ghosts coming into his room and trying to take his mortal soul, but he still alive and he didn't really believe in ghost stories all that much anyways. Dragging himself to the bathroom to fix the awful mess on his head and brush his teeth that felt all scummy, he noticed that Fran and Alexis were not in their room. Probably already downstairs hard at work, either that or they were unleashing their fury on the unsuspecting Pallet Town.

When he got to the bathroom, to his horror the counter near the sink was a disaster. Tubes of lipstick, hair products and clips lay scattered about. And worst of all was the box of tampons sitting in the sink, there was a pink note attached that said "Haha! Good Morning Sugar Booger!" on it. Yeah, HILARIOUS.

Ignoring the aura of femininity surrounding him he glanced up at the mirror and noticed something out of place. No, it wasn't the dark circles under his eyes, but something stuck on a thick chain around his neck. It looked like a pink padlock in the shape of a heart, obviously not something he wore on a regular basis. That's when it hit him, the ghosts in the night must have been Fran and Alexis playing a prank. Well, it wasn't a very good joke, the punch line was terrible and really tacky.

Tracey tried to pull the heart lock over his head, but the chain was too short and wouldn't go past his jaw. With a sigh he ran his hand through his hair to flatten it and went downstairs. Fran and Alexis were sitting at the table in the kitchen drinking tea, they tried not to smile as he thumped over to the cupboards and pulled out a bucket of cooking grease.

He slammed the container down in front of them and pulled up a chair, they just smiled and drank their tea calmly as he ripped off his t-shirt and opened the lid. Alexis lost it when he started slathering the grease over his neck and face, Fran nearly fell out of her chair as she had a giggle fit.

"Oh, I bet you do think this is funny!" Tracey growled at them and tried slipping the lock off again, but it was no use. "Okay, give me the darn key so I can take it off."

Alexis, red in the face, stopped laughing to catch her breath. Tracey thought she was starring at his bare chest so he crossed his arms to cover himself.

"Ha! Don't flatter yourself dough-boy! Anyhow...we can't take that off."

"What? What do you mean you can't?" Tracey shrieked in alarm, Fran pulled her chair up next to him and like a mother started cleaning the grease off his face with a paper towel. "Uh...thanks..."

Alexis pointed at the lock. "That's your contract."

"...excuse me?"

"You heard me. It's your contract. When you live up to your end of the deal, it comes off." Taking a sip of her tea Alexis revealed a chain around her neck with a key on it. "You'll get this once Fashion Week is over. And don't even think about trying to steal it from me, because you'll never manage to get it and keep all your limbs."

Tracey in vain pushed Fran away and tried once more to remove the lock, but it was useless. "You couldn't just do something normal like have me sign a piece of paper, could you?"

Fran giggled and poured more tea for herself. "Of course not! That's totally not our style. And this way there's no way you can break our agreement, not unless you get some lock cutters-"

"Don't give him any ideas Fran..." Alexis glared at her partner, "you're not getting any, are you Sketchitt?"

Tracey grabbed his t-shirt off the table and gulped. "No...!"

Before anyone could say another word, the Professor himself walked into the room. At first he didn't notice anyone occupying his kitchen table, but when he did he stopped walking for a second. He saw the cooking grease container opened and his lab assistant sitting there shiny as a new penny.

"Alexis, Fran. I hope you're not planning on sticking him in the oven."

"No Uncle Sam...we were just discussing some contractual obligations!" Fran chimed and stuck an arm around Tracey. She realized that he was still slick with grease and pulled away from him slowly making a disgusted face at the mess on her sleeve. "Ewww..."

The old man sighed. "Alright..." He puttered back to his morning business and let them be, the girls turned to their business prisoner with evil smiles.

"Well, it's settled then. We OWN you for the next month Sketchitt! You will live, eat and breathe fashion!" Alexis said, she grabbed a lock of his messy hair and scrunched her nose at it. "And just as an early warning, you CANNOT come with us to Vermillion dressing the way you do."

"Oh! MAKEOVER!" Fran jumped up from her chair and clapped excitedly.

Tracey groaned and slammed his head on the table, thinking what a brilliant situation he'd gotten himself into. A very valuable lesson had just been learned: 'The cooking grease is futile.'


	2. DressUp

**Author's Note:** I'M LISTENING TO BRITNEY SPEARS AS I WRITE THIS. AND SOME BIG D, TOOOOO. Well, that sure explains a lot of this bullshit.

**Paper Doll: Cut Along The Dotted Line**

**Chapter 2**

**Dress-up**

Delia Ketchum looked over Tracey's shoulder at the computer screen, he was scrolling anxiously down a page of new trends in male fashion. Since Fran had said "Oh! MAKEOVER!" the week before he'd been in a state of panic over what they were going to torture him with. It was so bad he'd been waking up in a cold sweat at night from a reoccurring nightmare where they had him stuffed into very tight leather pants and a neon yellow spandex shirt. He thought for sure that if he just had a look at what fashion types were into these days it would calm his nerves, but it just made him even more nervous when he saw that skin tight jeans and hoodies with obscenely loud prints were the hottest thing. It was like the crack babies of the early 90's came back and puked all over the place.

"Wow…you know, I've never really had body image issues before. But these, er, men? Is that what they are? They're making me feel obese!" Tracey commented on the twiggy limbs of some of the male models on screen while looking down at his stomach which puffed out slightly. He wasn't fat…just a little pudgy. "There is no way those psycho women…creature….things can expect me to look like that!"

"Now don't go comparing yourself to these models, everyone knows most models are one step up from classroom skeletons anyway." Delia said in her overly cheery voice, "and they took you on as someone to work behind the scenes. You won't have to step a foot on the catwalk ever."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that. What I'm concerned about is looking like an idiot in public. Of course one could argue that I already do, I'm not exactly up on what's in and what's out. But to appear like I actually put some effort into looking like a total moron?" Tracey cringed glancing back at the screen, throwing up a little in his mouth. Oh great, it was the toast from breakfast…

Delia made him get away from the computer and they went into the living area where her faithful could be seen through the backdoors tending to the vegetable garden. The anxious teenager sat cross-legged on the couch and hugged a lacy pink pillow while Delia sat in an arm chair and picked her sewing back up. She was mending a shirt for the Professor and was almost done. The girls Fran and Alexis would have fixed the rip, however when he went to ask them for help he walked in on the girls fighting over a bolt of pink chiffon and decided it was best not to stick his head into the lions den…

"I think you're overreacting just a wee bit. They seem like very nice girls to me!"

Delia had seen them earlier in the week as she was outdoors, the Gruesome Twosome had followed Tracey into town as he ran an errand for the Professor. They stopped for a moment to introduce themselves and were sweet as pixie sticks to her, but the second they were down the path and out of ear shot they were right back to criticizing Tracey and making him carry their heavy purses.

"Haven't you ever heard of denim?"

"…Isn't that what you were wearing yesterday and the day before and the day before that?"

"Wow! I think I can see a grey hair on your head! Aren't you kind of young for that?"

Playing with the padlock that was still around his neck, Tracey muttered, "I just hope they don't try to match anything to this stupid heart…" But he wouldn't put it past them, he'd seen some of the men's wear they had created in past seasons. It was enough to make his toes curl backwards and his brain hemorrhage.

Suddenly, there was a scratching noise. They both looked around searching for the source; Tracey was the first to sight it.

"Oh great…" He sighed and buried his face into the pillow, hoping it would suffocate him and end the misery.

Delia ripped a stitch. "What is it?"

"The bane of my existence, the reason I wish spontaneous human combustion was a reality as opposed to urban myth." He replied with a miserable, muffled voice.

She looked past the teenager, out the window and saw a chubby arm clawing at the glass. It was wearing big white faux pearls and bright pink nails so it had to be Fran. "Oh my…" She said setting the sewing down and getting up to go to the door. When she got there and opened it Alexis was standing on the front step with her hand hovering above the doorbell.

"Hello !" She snapped back up and beamed happily as Fran ran from the bushes at the side of the house to join her. "Can Tracey come out and play?" She said as sweetly as possible rocking back and fourth in her biker boots of death.

Eyes fixated on the twig sticking out of Fran's hair, Delia said. "Well, I'm almost done fixing the professors shirt. So I'll send him out when I'm done! "

"Excellent!" Fran clapped and shook the twig out of her hair when she realized Delia was starring at it. Alexis slipped behind her back and stepped up to the window where Tracey was trying to hide behind the curtain. She started making faces at him, and he responded back with some equally hideous and equally immature gestures.

Pointing into the house Delia asked "Would you girls like to come in at all?"

Fingers in the corners of her mouth, Alexis turned to her and said , "ooh ank ou. E're ine, Isses. Eh-um!"

"Well, alright. Oh! There's a basket on the deck in the back, have Mr. Mime pick out some nice vegetables for the professor!" Waving to the girls Delia closed the door and turned to go back to the living area. She caught Tracey bearing his teeth and stretching his nostrils with his baby fingers to Alexis out the window, silently she wondered why Ash always seemed to make friends with such odd ones...

A few minutes later, while the girls and were in the garden going through tomatoes and lettuce, Tracey reluctantly stepped onto the deck. He didn't want to leave the sanctuary of the house, apparently psycho bitches from hell couldn't get in even when they were invited. But alas, he had to leave. Who would protect the Professor if the girls took their true form as blood sucking creatures of the night and tried to whisk him away? Ghost Busters? No. Van Helsing? Puh-leeez. Tracey the Crazy Vixen Slayer…Yeah, that sounded about right.

And he'd get a cool theme song and sweet ass weapons too…

"Ahh! Tracey-boo, you should not have been making those faces at me through the window. You see, because now yours is stuck like that!" Alexis chuckled turning to him, of course he was not making any childish faces at her any longer but she could barely go ten seconds without insulting him. She must have stayed up late at night writing them down.

Rolling his eyes he said nothing and stepped off the deck where Fran heaved a heavy basket of vegetables into his arms.

"Think you can carry that for us? Thanks, Girlfriend!" She said merrily and pat him on the head, it felt very demeaning. got treated with respect by them, they just thought he was the cutest thing this side of the mountains and even kissed the pokemon on the cheek before turning to Tracey and booting him in the knee so he'd start walking.

"Ow…Please don't do that, I only have two of those…" He said, but they didn't hear him over their laughter as they talked about something he wasn't interested in. Didn't they ever talk about anything besides shoes and dresses? What about global warming or the economy? Important things that actually mattered! Blah blah blah, Prada. Blah bleeeh bwa, flippin' Louis Vitton. Ugh. What was so great about them? Weren't they dead or something?

One of them grabbed his shoulder from behind and stopped him. "Slow down, Girlfriend!" Fran said, apparently that was his new nickname… "You know what today is, don't you?" The eager twinkle in her eye appeared very ominous to him.

"The day I check in to the metal health ward at the hospital after trying to kill myself by stepping in front of a stampede of Toros?" He replied flatly looking away from her.

"No, you whiny little brat! Today is the day we turn you into the prettiest princess at the ball!" Alexis did a little curtsey mid-walk.

Princess? They were kidding, right? His face twitched.

"Ugh, you are not sticking me in a dress!" Tracey scrunched his nose at the thought. Never in a million years would he do that, he didn't have the legs or ankles for it.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. What she means is it's makeover day!" Explained Fran striking a pose, information he already knew but was still equally terrifying as stepping into a puffy prom dress.

"Now…Let's see…" Alexis pulled a measuring tape from the pocket of her ripped plaid skirt and grabbed one of Tracey's thick arms, measuring the width and length as Fran looked closely at his straw dry hair.

"…what are you, hey!" Tracey snapped as Alexis took note of his waist measurement. "Ow! What's that for? This is REALLY making me uncomfortable…" He protested as Fran yanked a stand of hair from his head.

Writing something down in a notebook she always carried around, Alexis whispered to Fran for a moment and pulled her a few feet ahead of him on the dirt path. Their heads were turned so he couldn't read their lips.

"What are you talking about? I think if it concerns me then I have the right to know!" He demanded putting down the veggie basket and crossing his arms.

Fran's face broke into a soft smile and her eyes got all watery. "Wow! You're like a little baby when you're pissed off!" She commented. "Cute like a growlithe puppy!" Then reached out to pet him on the head again, but Tracey pulled back quickly and narrowed his eyes at her.

"…I'm not a puppy…"

"Of course you're not. Puppies actually have body hair…you clearly don't eat your potatoes because you don't even have a strand on your chest." Alexis snickered at another one of her wisecracks about his masculinity (or lack of it in her opinion). "Okay, joking aside we really have to get back and right to business."

"This is going to be fun!" Fran squealed jumping up and down, Tracey's stomach lurched and he felt sick watching the joy they seemed to be getting out of this.

They each grabbed an arm, Alexis picked the basket back up and they started leading him back down the path towards the lab.

Maybe it was a fear of the unknown, the uncertain future, but he was starting to feel really worried once again. The world they were getting him involved in was one he has successfully been able to avoid until they showed their pierced faces at the front door. Professor Oak just had to be nice and let them stay…why? WHY?! Maybe if he dashed to the kitchen when they got home and made a salt circle…

Back at the lab, the girls ordered Tracey to get upstairs and wait for them in the hall. He stood at the top of the stairs listening to them bang about in the living room for about ten minutes before they appeared again, each of them carrying boxes of something he failed to identify.

Mystery boxes…be wary of the mystery boxes.

They then proceeded to shove him into the bathroom and locked the door behind them. Damn, no escape now. He was cornered by the Glamazons.

Alexis pointed to the counter and ordered him to take a seat, then whipped out a pokeball and released her Squirtle. The little blue turtle nuzzled at one of her shins and she scratched its head lovingly.

"Loose the headband, loser." She said holding a skinny hand out and urging him to hand it over.

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at her, only to have Fran tweeze it. "OW! What? Are they not thin enough already or something? Geeze, that hurt!" The pain brought a tear to Tracey's eye, how did women put up with it? He heard that a lot of them did this everyday as part of their daily ritual.

Fran shrugged and put the tweezers back in her make up bag. "What? I saw a stray hair."

"Don't change the subject Fran. Now come on, it's not like you're using it to hide a lightening shaped scar or something." Said Alexis.

"…and how do you know that for sure?"

"Because you're not that cool. Now quit stalling before I rip if off myself along with the rest of your dopey face." She made a fist and shook it threateningly.

"Alright, fine fine…" Grumbled Tracey as he took it off, almost instantly his thick hair fell back in front of his face, giving him the appearance of a mushroom. "By the way, you're not cutting anything." He reminded them.

Fran pulled out a container of super sticky gel and stuck her fingers in it, "of course not. We promise there will be no permanent damage done!" She slapped a gob of the goo on his scalp and started working it into his hair; it felt cold and slimy but smelled of peaches.

As Fran clawed at his head and tried to bring some shape to his hair, Alexis dug into one of the boxes and started going through some clothes. Why they carried around random mens clothing was beyond him, but he couldn't understand most of what they did.

Alexis paused for a second, starring at his giant feet and bit her lower lip.

"Fran? Did you bring your black Chucks?"

"Yes, why?" The chubby girl paused and looked down at Alexis.

"Chucks? What are Chucks?" Tracey asked unable to see past the mass of hair Fran had yanked in front of his eyes.

"None of your business, you brat…Fran, I don't like it. The Liberty Spikes is not a look that works for him."

"Aww! But I like them!" Fran whined in her annoying voice twisting the end of a spike, she'd formed five of them on his head so far. "You're probably right…. they're too high maintenance…"

Tracey pulled some of his long bangs aside and tried to take a glance in the mirror behind him, but before he could check out the disaster on his head Alexis suddenly shot up from the floor and screamed "Squirtle! Water gun!" The water type assaulted him with a strong blast and almost drowned him trying to wash out all the hair gel.

Nearly coughing up a lung, he spit out some peachy tasting water and shook the excess from his hair. "Ah. So that's why you brought it up here…Fantastic…"

Around 5 in the afternoon, Professor Oak realized that it had been oddly quiet at the lab for quite some time. So he went for a walk around the premises looking for the young people he was sharing his house with. There wasn't any sign of them in the backyard or in the front, they weren't in the atrociously messy living room or in the kitchen.

Where had everyone gone to? There were no sounds of anguish from Tracey or the girls blasting their music. Just nothing.

That's when he heard a noise from the second floor, a door slamming and someone running. He quickly went to the bottom of the stairs to see what was going on, only to be run over by a teenage boy wearing fitted ripped jeans and a studded two-tone belt.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry Professor! Are you alright?" Came a familiar voice as the teenager scrambled off the old man and helped him up.

The Professor was speechless for a moment when he realized it was his assistant standing before him looking like some street ruffian with a bad haircut. It was obviously the handiwork of Fran and Alexis.

"I'm fine, Tracey…what's going on?" He asked cracking his back, the teenager seemed uneasy.

"I think they're trying to pierce me." Tracey replied with terrified eyes…was…was that eyeliner on his face?

The Professor made a confused face. "P-pardon?"

"Pierce me, you know, with a needle? Blood gushing everywhere-"

"Not true!" Came another voice, Alexis appeared on the steps followed by Fran. "It's a fake, you whimp." She held up a little silver ring with a tiny gap in it.

"We were only joking about the needle! At least I was, can't really speak for Alexis you know." Fran laughed nervously as Alexis grabbed Tracey by one fat arm and yanked him towards her.

The purple haired demon woman sighed and dropped the fake ring in his hand. "Stick it where ever you want on your face, I really doubt it would make you look any tougher. You're about as threatening as a bag of marshmallows."

Fran tapped her partner on the shoulder. "The big white ones or the little rainbow colored ones?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Hmm, guess not. I like the rainbow ones!" Fran chimed.

"You would." Alexis smirked.

Fran hopped off the steps and bounced towards Tracey, crushing him with her fleshy arms. "Ohhh, Girlfriend! You look so adorable!"

"Adorable? Are you nuts?!" He exclaimed trying to get away from her chest, it was almost suffocating him.

The Professor cleared his throat. "Well then, as long as everything is all right-"

"Save me, PLEASE!" Tracey cried, still trapped in Fran's embrace.

"-should we order out for dinner tonight?" Professor Oak asked turning to Alexis, ignoring Tracey and his attempts to run from Fran.

"Oh, you have got to be shi-"

"Sounds like a good idea, Uncle Sam!" Alexis nodded in agreement, cutting off Tracey and his futile attempts to ask for help. She and Oak started walking down the hall with Tracey getting dragged along by Fran like a rag doll, his limbs flailing around hopelessly.

"Chinese or Italian?"

"I like Greek!"

"Oh, good suggestion! There's a nice little place in town…"

Tracey whimpered again. "Could you please let me go? I can feel my circulation getting cut off."

"Can we get sushi? I love sushi!" Said Fran.

"…I give up…"

**Authors Note: **If you can't already tell, Fran is a very huggy person…As am I in real life, but I don't crush people Dx

So, what happens next? Will the girls get their dresses done? Will Tracey survive the toxic amounts of hair gel they're forcing him to wear? And will Professor Oak ever stop acting like a mother that always says 'that's nice dear!'

WHO KNOWS.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN…


	3. Party Til you Puke

**Note:** Long time, no chapter? Welcome back?

**Paper Doll: Cut Along The Dotted Line**

**Chapter 3**

**Party Til you Puke**

The day he had been dreading had finally arrived.

Early in the morning the girls had him up, dressed in some horribly awkward plaid ensemble with safety pins all over it and in the back seat of their car next to a well used dress form named Cindy Lou. At this point he wasn't surprised that their chosen mode of transportation was a purple hearse, nor was he shocked at the bright pink seat covers or the pair of fuzzy Oddish hanging off the rearview mirror.

When they said their goodbyes to the Professor, Tracey hastily whispering for his mentor to save him but his quiet pleading went unanswered. That padlock around his neck was a contract, a promise, and he had to see it through to the end. Even the Professor knew that.

Tracey spent the vast majority of the bumpy car ride floating in and out of sleep, they were headed to Vermillion of all places. He'd asked them why Vermillion specifically since he'd never known it to be anything more than a port town with a gym. The girls explained that in the last few years the some major producers in the textiles industry had moved shop to Vermillion, and others followed suit. Major design companies, independent designers, the media and fans. Vermillion had quickly become the new fashion capitol of Kanto.

Not that Tracey cared, all he wanted was for the ride to be over.

The next time he woke up the sky was shades of pink and orange. The hearse rumbled into a back alley past a construction crew and stopped at a pink door. Tracey had to blink a couple of times, he noticed that the paint on the door matched the colour of the heart shaped padlock around his neck. Wordlessly, he cracked his neck and stepped out of the car.

Alexis and Fran were frantically unloading their things from the vehicle, Tracey picked up good old Cindy Lou and followed the girls through the magical pink door and into a very industrial looking studio area. Before he could even set the dress form down Alexis grabbed it and shoved something into his hands.

"Okay, we need to get ready FAST."

Tracey blinked, he was still groggy from napping in the car. "What? Why?"

Fran was going through her makeup bag trying to match a tube of lipstick to a dress she had sprawled out on a worktable. "Because we have to make an appearance at the fashion week opening party!"

He tensed up immediately as a look of pure horror came across his face. "WE? All of us? I'm just working for you, I'm not a designer why do WE have to go?" He just realized that what Alexis had shoved into his hands was another outfit meant for him. It consisted of a bright yellow blazer with black striped markings on it, some uncomfortably tight looking black pants, a fairly normal looking black shirt and brothel creepers that would make him at least 3 inches taller. Well, there went all notions of not looking like an idiot with effort.

Despite working for WEEKS on their collection the girls seemed to care very little about the dresses, leaving them sitting in boxes on the floor and thrown over random pieces of furniture in their work area. Right now they cared more about showing up at some stupid party. Tracey was disappointed at the way they treated their work in this moment, and hid behind a panel to try and squeeze into the clothes he was meant to wear. When he finally pulled everything on he stood in front of a mirror readjusting the spikes he'd flattened during his nap on the car ride.

When he thought he had them looking halfway decent, Fran appeared from behind him and jammed something in his eyeball. "OW! What the, UGH! THAT STINGS!"

Fran backed way from a moment looking sorry, an eyeliner pencil in her hand. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"You almost poked my eye out! Ahh! Why would you do that?" Some tears creeped out his eye and rolled down his cheek. "Eyeliner? REALLY?"

"I just thought it would look cute!" Fran tried to explain, she was wearing a rose pink dress with lots of ruffles and matching shoes. Her facial expression really did show she was sorry, but the way she still held the eye liner pencil was a signal for Tracey to move it.

His efforts proved to be futile though (again), once they had piled back into the hearse Alexis pinned him to the backseat and finished the job. Tracey frowned at himself in the rearview mirror thinking that it just made him look even more tired than usual. How could he protest though? It's not like he knew how to take it off, he would just have to sit in a corner all night and deal with it. The worst part about this night was the girls weren't letting him take a sketchbook, not even a sliver of paper or a pen! How was he going to make it through the night? Maybe he could fight the eyeliner pencil away from Alexis and draw on napkins until the decided to leave.

Tracey heard the party before he ever saw it, the pumping music rattled some debris on the dashboard and made his back teeth chatter. Lights shone up from the party location like it was a movie premier, there seemed to be a hazy purple halo around the building. This was no average building though, at first Tracey thought it was a gym but that that dispelled quickly when he noticed a pair of roller skates in the neon sign.

A roller rink.

The party was at a bloody roller rink.

Talk about childhood memories flooding back, his mother was once a roller derby champion and Tracey had once taken part in a tamer version of the sport. That was until he gave some kid a few years older than him a broken nose and collarbone, Tracey had felt so bad about that he gave up on the sport that day. Gave up the derby, gave up his unruly head of hair, stopped wearing ripped clothes and buried himself in his textbooks. He rebuilt his identity all around the regret of one incident.

Noticing his knuckles going white gripping her headrest, Alexis side eyed Tracey and asked in a low voice. "You okay? Your hands are shaking."

Tracey ripped his hands from the seat and shook his head. "I'm fine! Totally fine." Haha, what a lie. He intended to keep them out of his personal life, and his past, as much as possible.

Tracey just had to contain himself, breath. Breath dammit!

After handing the car off to a valet the three of them walked along the red carpet into the party. Fran noticed Tracey trailing behind, yanked him by the arm and stuck him between herself and Alexis. This did nothing to calm his nerves, being struck between two demon women practically dragging him to hell. No prayers could help him now, nothing could stop him from being swallowed by the sound and the lights.

Upon entering Tracey found the closest empty table he could and took a seat, Alexis and Fran exchanged expressions and watched him sit there with his head down.

"Hey, HEY. We didn't make you look pretty to bring you to a party and have you sit alone." Alexis crossed her arms sternly and growled at him.

Tracey gulped and fanned himself with a napkin from the dispenser in front of him, he was trying his best to avoid looking at the rink in front of him crammed with skaters. "I'm just really anxious, that's all! You two go off and schmooze for a bit, I'll be with you when I get some footing!" That wasn't a complete lie, the extra three inches in height from the brothel creepers wasn't doing much to help him walk in a straight line.

The girls didn't look entirely convinced, Fran swiped a glass full of blue liquid from a skating waitress zooming by and set it on the table before him. "Drinks are free, I suggest you start downing some to calm your nerves."

"Are you suggesting I get drunk?"

"Suggesting? I thought I was pretty clear."

Arm in arm they left him be with the drink, once they were out of sight he grabbed it and downed the liquid in about 3 seconds flat. Not the strongest thing he'd ever had, but it wasn't bad. Still, he wasn't getting any warm or tingling feelings from it. Only one way to take care of that! Stop every waitress that zoomed by and ignore the obnoxious light display over the roller rink, there was no way he was going down that path again.

Within the hour his table top was filled with about 5 empty shots, 2 vials, 3 empty margarita glasses and he was working his way through a tall rum and coke when a tall girl with dark hair and pointed eyes sat down next to him. She wore a sparkling gold dress and held a matching clutch purse, her eyes went from the empty drinks on the table and up to him. She was starring critically, but he didn't care. The warm fuzzies were starting and he just laughed at her.

"They blatantly TOLD me to get drunk!" Tracey extended the arm that held his drink, half of it flew on the table and the rest in his face. Without missing a beat he waved over one of the skating waitresses and grabbed another, pounded it back in a few seconds and slammed the glass on the damp table.

The girl rested her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers. Her eyes narrowed critically at him as he grabbed another shot and with a wobble in his arms tried to bring the glass to his lips. She grabbed it before he made it though, drank it and set the empty shot down. "You should have texted me earlier, I think you've had enough."

Tracey frowned at her and went to stand up, only to fall back into the seat. "You're not mom! W-what do you know? Huh? What. Do. You. Know?" If he hadn't been so completely smashed, his gaze at her may have been somewhat threatening. Instead his eyes drooped and his head tilted and wobbled like a dashboard ornament, the eyeliner he was wearing was starting to smear a little with sweat.

"I know you can't hold your liquor, lightweight. If I don't stop you now you'll wake up crying in a ditch, or worse." The girl replied with a sigh. "I was supposed to meet someone here, but you're more important right now."

The girl helped him stand up initially, saw what a disaster his shoes were and discarded them under the table. Propping him up with one arm around his waist and one of his flung over her shoulder they left the loud party. Tracey was shoeless and wasted, but he didn't care. He was being whisked away from the bowels of hell by a pretty girl and away from the demon women that crammed him into ill fitting clothes and stabbed pencils in his eye. Admittedly, he was going to miss the free drinks.

A few hours later Fran returned to the table, having gotten caught up talking to a textiles designer and getting excited about next seasons releases she'd forgotten about Tracey. Horror swept over her as she realized his table was now occupied by 3 leggy super models, a pair of brothel creepers kicked to the side and no sign of Tracey anywhere. It was bad enough he was barely legal to drink, now he was missing in the middle of a party at a roller rink and it was all her fault!

In a panic Fran ran to the other side of the rink where she had seen Alexis sitting at the bar trying to chat up a blue haired bartender. She was making big goo-goo love eyes at the guy when Fran scrambled up screaming and grabbed her shoulders.

"Alexis! I lost him! I freakin' lost him!"

"What? Who?"

"Tracey! I lost Tracey!"

"…you sure he's just not skating or something?"

Both girls stared at the rink for a moment, but there were no signs of a short guy in a yellow blazer. Even at this kind of a party, full of glitz and glamour and frivolities, someone dressed like that would still stick out like pants at a no-underwear allowed party.

Alexis tried to get Fran to calm down, "hey maybe he just stepped out from some air! Have you tried calling him or anything?"

Fran paused then fumbled for the phone she'd jammed between her breasts before entering the party. She flipped it opened and searched for any new messages, but there was nothing. She dialed his number and waited, but there was nothing.

"He isn't picking up Alexis, HE ISN'T PICKING UP!"

"Well, maybe your signal just isn't strong in here. Let's go outside and try this again." Alexis didn't really want to leave, she was having such a fun time trying to get a date with the blue haired bartender. But unfortunately uncle Samuel would be very upset if they let anything bad happen to his assistant, their time at the party was over.

Once outside in the fresh air under a night sky Fran tried in desperation again to contact Tracey, she only got his voicemail though and left a screaming message for him asking just where the hell he was. She was about to suggest getting the car and driving around looking for him, but then she remembered that both of them had been drinking that night. Alexis more so than Fran, but Fran was not in any proper emotional condition to be driving.

Fran started blurting out suggestions, like searching the closest homeless shelter or looking in the park across the road when suddenly her phone went off. She answered it expecting a call but realized that it was just a text message. It was from a number she didn't know, telling her to go to the Golden Articuno Hotel.

"Should we trust it?" Fran eyed the message suspiciously.

"It's not like we have any other leads…"

"But what if it's Jacob trying to string us into a horrible trap? What then?"

Alexis sighed and scratched her head. "Fran, he's back at the party. I saw him just before we left. I assure you he is very occupied right now and not planning our doom."

After a little more convincing and reassurance that this was not some plot to kidnap them, Fran and Alexis started making the trek to the hotel. It actually wasn't very far from the location of the party, but both girls were in heels and their feet were screaming in pain by the time they reached the giant golden building. Even in the dark of night it seemed to gleam.

Another text had come through during their walk, instructing them to take the elevator to the 10th floor and find room 1104. That would have been the easy part, however when they stepped off the elevator they were met immediately by a very large man with a shaved head and sunglasses. His face was set in a deep frown and he pointed at both of them.

"Are you paparazzi?"

Alexis narrowed her steely grey eyes and pointed at herself. "I'm drunk and I'm not holding a camera. Do I LOOK like a paparazzi?"

The man was about to open his mouth again when something caught his eye and he turned his head, standing a few feet away with her arms crossed and a displeased look on her face was a tall girl with dark green hair. Fran and Alexis knew who she was right away and both their hearts started to beat faster, they leaned on each other for support and could do nothing but stare in amazement.

"Miss Edie, I found these two and-"

Edie held up her hand, a golden bangle hung from her wrist. "It's alright, I asked them here." She was like some radiant goddess there to save the day.

The man stepped back as Edie brushed by, she took both Fran and Alexis by the shoulders and lead them away to her room at the end of the hallway. She unlocked it with ease by sliding a card in the slot and let the girls into her suite first, they were overwhelmed by how expensive everything looked and didn't speak, their eyes grew to the size of saucers and they suddenly felt underdressed in their party clothes.

"Sorry about that, I specifically requested to have my door guarded. Forgot to tell him I had guests coming." Edie took a seat on a very large, regal looking bed with a canopy and fluffy white bedding. The entire room looked fit for a queen. Gold furnishings, real silver eating utensils sitting on a table and a ceiling decorated with cherubs and ancient gods.

The girls both jumped when the blankets near Edie started to rustle on their own, but a moment later a very familiar face appeared. It was Tracey, and he looked absolutely ILL. His fake lip ring was missing, eyeliner smeared and his once expertly styled spikes were out of control. His barely open eyes settled on them and he let out a loud groan. "How could you let me do that!"

"Do what exactly?" Fran questioned him.

"Oh, I don't know. Let me get completely shit faced!" He scrunched his face and hid it back under the blanket.

Edie let out a laugh and pat the lump in the blankets where his head was, "you make it sound like such a horrible thing Trace."

"It was!" His muffled voice replied. "I made an idiot of myself!"

"…sounds more like you're angry because you actually had FUN doing it."

Tracey let out and exasperated sigh and threw the covers off. He tottered out of the bed the best he could with his hangover looming over him like a rain cloud and stumbled over to a boudoir with a large mirror. He stared at himself for a moment in silence, then broke out into gross sobbing "I got dragged home drunk and shoeless by my sister!"

Both Fran and Alexis were stunned by the comment, and not the part about him being drunk and shoeless. Their eyes skipped between Tracey crying at his reflection and Edie looking sympathetically towards him. Mentally noting that both had darker skin, mossy green hair and brown eyes. Sure, Edie was much taller and have more delicate features…there was no way it was really true though, was it?

Tracey was just being a rambling drunk, that had to be the answer.

Edie was GORGEOUS, and while Tracey wasn't exactly bad looking he was nowhere near model material. Was it even possible for the same gene pool to produce this kind of anomaly?

Edie took pity on the crying boy as she stood up and cradled his head in her arms. "It's okay, you weren't that bad! It's not like you started table dancing or anything, you just drank too much."

"Ugh, feels like not enough! I should have just drank myself black out drunk and fell asleep in someone's tits!" Tracey cried, his voice hiccupped and there was snot trailing out of his nose. He hadn't been this much of a mess with regret since…well, at least since he broke that one guys collarbone.

Alexis popped up between them suddenly and stared Edie down, she was just as tall so it was rather easy for her. "Excuse me, but I refuse to believe that you guys are related."

"Apparently some people just can't handle the truth." Tracey croaked dabbing at his eyes delicately with some tissues he found on the boudoir, he blew his nose and tried to ignore the girl getting between him and his sister.

Angrily Alexis spun around and stared accusingly at him. "Well then didn't you tell us your sister was Edie? THE EDIE?"

Glaring at her reflection, Tracey sniffled. "No reason to."

Alexis opened her mouth to speak again but Fran stuck her hand over it and stopped before she hurt anymore feelings. "Hey, Tracey! We're glad you're okay and not lying in a gutter! Wow, Edie is your sister? Lucky! You know it has been such a rough night, we should all just get some sleep!"

Edie perked up and smiled. "Yes! That sounds like a plan, how about you ladies stay here? The bed is HUGE, we can all sleep in it. I'm sure we'll all feel better with a good night of rest."

Alexis peeled Fran's hand away from her face, she contemplating saying something scathing but instead her eyes got all watery and she blurted. "I get to sleep with a super model!"

"Yes, good Alexis! Look on the bright side!" Fran pat the head of her friend and business partner like she was a family pet.

**A/N: Haha, many pardons. I do not write like I used to and Tracey's sarcastic internal dialogue was kind of missing from this one. Whoops. Hope it was still enjoyable otherwise.**


	4. More Moss Tops

**Paper Doll: Cut Along The Dotted Line**

**Chapter 4**

**More Moss-Tops**

Everyone slept like rocks in the bottom of the sea that night, except Tracey who spent the vast majority of his night power puking blue and green into a bucket Edie had procured from the cleaning staff. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that his stomach finally quit rolling and he was able to hit the pillow. He didn't get long to sleep however, because a few hours later the phone beckoned them all.

Edie, who had her arm curled protectively around Tracey's head, rolled over and picked up the receiver. She answered with a 'who is this?' and a few yeses before hanging up. With a groan she prodded her brothers face and smiled down at him as he cracked an eye open.

"Sorry to wake you up, but we're being picked up soon."

"…what?" Tracey mumbled, his vision was bleary and he was really wishing he'd washed his mouth out better before going to sleep. The stale taste of vomit clung to his taste buds, if he'd had anything left to throw up he probably would have.

"Ramona and Cal are picking us up for breakfast. Well, it'll be more like brunch but you get the idea."

Tracey propped himself up on his elbows, realizing that his foot was hitting something soft and squishy and that it was Fran's belly. "But…I don't have any clothes here. And I need to shower or something. I smell terrible…and I'm still tired."

"Don't you worry about clothes, I can take care of that. And I'll convince Fran and Alexis to let you nap later if you attend. Please?"

Not wanting to disappoint his sister Tracey grinned weakly and nodded. "Okay…but please don't make me wear anything stupid."

Relieved that Edie respected his request, Tracey found himself standing outside the hotel a few hours later in plain dark jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was having a hard time staying off his face but it wasn't spiked or gooped up in gel, he could live with it obscuring his vision for a while. Fran and Alexis looked much like themselves in pink polka dots and purple plaid getups, Edie was in a simple golden frock and held a matching handbag. They didn't have to wait very long for their ride to pull up, a white limo rounded the corner and stopped before them.

Edie went to open the door when someone from the inside kicked it and swung out their long legs. It was a VERY tall, thin man with tattoos up and down his arms, a floppy dark green Mohawk that was tinged blonde at the tips, skin like caramel and a scar down the left side of his face. He had more peircings in his face than the girls could count upon initial inspection and wore a dark, sleeveless shirt, tight ripped jeans and calf high boots.

This was not the kind of person Fran or Alexis were expecting to see step out of a limo, but neither Tracey or Edie seemed phased by him. A wide grin spread across the face of the tall man, he opened his mouth to speak and an odd, garbled greeting came out that startled the girls.

Both Edie and Tracey hugged the man and greeted him as Cal, Tracey backed away for a moment and seemed to curve two hands before his chest then point to Cal who opened his own hand and thumped his thumb off his chest in response.

"Oh! I get it!" Fran blurted out loudly. Edie, Tracey and Alexis spun around to look at her, Cal's eyes fell on her a moment later in confusion. Fran grinned and pointed at Cal, "I get it now! You're deaf, that's why your voice sounded so funny!"

Alexis hissed and jabbed Fran in the ribs. "Fran! You can't just tell people they sound funny!"

"I-I wasn't trying to be rude at all!"

"Yeah, well you kinda just were!" Alexis snorted and continued to scold Fran, but a second later a little furry blue face was shoved between them and sniffing the air. The girls both laid eyes on a Mareep with a skull collar that Cal had lifted up to greet them, he looked at them both hopefully with his one good eye and smiled genuinely.

Trying to compose his voice better for their benefit, Cal spoke again. "This, this is The Baron. He's my service Pokemon, he's my ears. Don't worry, you don't have to sign to me. I can read your pretty lips."

Both Fran and Alexis pretty much melted on the spot, partially from the embarrassment that he could lip read and partially from how stupidly adorable he was acting. Fran's head was spinning with the thought that he thought her lips were pretty and Alexis was fixated by the Gyarados tattoo curling up his left arm, in an instant both girls had developed hopeless crushes.

Those crushes were soon to become even more hopeless though, as the girls quickly learned from Edie that they were going to meet up with Cal's wife. Who she was, the girls had no idea. But still, they admired him from afar in the limo as he talked wildly back and fourth with Tracey. Hands flew everywhere and Cal would let out the occasional laugh, for a deaf guy that looked like a tough biker he had a very bubbly giggle. They caught on quickly that Edie and Tracey were cousins with Cal, how was short and nerdy blood related to so much quirky and sexy?

After about 20 minutes if weaving through traffic the limo pulled up to what looked like a condo complex. Everyone piled out of the limo and followed Cal, Fran and Alexis looked to Tracey for an explanation of where they were going and who they were meeting but he didn't even bat an eye at them. Either he was still upset at them for abandoning him during the party or just didn't give a damn anymore.

When they reached the top floor Cal turned and explained to them that the entire floor was his "schweet Ramona's" penthouse. Fran and Alexis had no idea who or what a Ramona was but figured she must be loaded to afford her own floor in a condo complex, the floors were marble and there was a fountain right before the front door!

Cal didn't hesitate to open the front door and let them in, the entire space was open concept, very modern and covered in plush white carpet. Large windows faced the glittering water and looked out over the ships that rolled into harbor, Fran and Alexis could hardly believe that someone lived in this work of art and were almost too afraid to walk in but The Baron bumped their legs and moved them along.

Suddenly there was thudding on the floor and a little girl, probably about 10 years old with green hair in stubby pigtails, ran out of a hallway and launched herself at Cal. With an open hand she tapped her forehead with her thumb repeatedly and beamed at him, an Eevee draped around her shoulders licked Cal's cheek.

The little girl laid eyes on everyone else suddenly, she opened her mouth and screamed. "Edie! Tracey! Daddy! Why didn't you tell me they were coming? And who are those weird ladies?"

Fran and Alexis both noted that the girl didn't have a 'deaf accent' like her father did meaning she was probably a hearing child, which made insulting her under their breath for referring to them as 'weird' impossible. Still hanging off her father she introduced herself to them as Debbie, then jumped back on the floor and ran off screaming for her mother.

"Wow…she has a lot of energy." Alexis stated wide eyed.

"That's pretty typical of kids in our family." Edie smiled, "you should have seen Tracey as a kid. Wild as they come, he wasn't always s-"

"Ahhh! Edie, please? Not now?" Tracey stopped his sister from speaking as if she was about to reveal some horrible, life-altering secret. There was a look of desperation in his eyes that was visible even hidden behind his hair.

Corralling them all onto the large balcony, Fran's eyes went wide at the table with the massive spread of food on it. There was every kind of fruit you could think of, little sandwiches on fancy plates, cookies and cake and tea. It was like she'd fallen smack dab in the middle of a fancy tea party without the old ladies in bad hats. She was almost too overwhelmed to take a seat, but what would happen a moment later would nearly push both herself and Alexis over the edge of the balcony.

A woman came out with Debbie. She had olive skin, dark brown eyes, bleach blonde hair in an angular haircut and a straight nose. It took a second glance for Fran and Alexis to believe what they were seeing, sure she wasn't wearing her usual outlandish style but standing right there before them in sweats and a t-shirt was a woman who graced the cover of music and fashion magazines across the nation.

Ramona, or The Divine Lala as the rest of the world knew her, looked to both girls with a smile and held her hand out for them to shake. "Hello, I'm Ramona. It's nice to meet you girls." Her speaking voice was just as sweet as the one she sang with.

For once neither Alexis or Fran could find words, being able to sign right at that moment would have been useful. They just shook her hand, wide eyed in silence and somehow managed to take their seats at the opposite end of the table. A day ago they were two girls in a car with a bunch of silly dresses and a reluctant assistant, now they were sitting at a table with a supermodel and her popstar cousin (not to mention her smoking hot husband and wired daughter). Tracey was still Tracey, no new, fantastic developments on him.

Again they tried to comprehend just HOW it was possible that Tracey was family with these people, Alexis wanted to launch herself over the table and shake him for not mentioning this sooner but decided against it because strangling your assistant would probably leave a bad impression on brand new acquaintances. Not the best way to make friends or business connections, and they were both already thinking it. Silently with their eyes as they nibbled on the food before them and the others talked, Fran and Alexis thought about asking both Edie and the pop star to help them out with their show.

However, Fran had quite a way of putting a wrench in the engine. As Tracey was in the middle of explaining his padlock to Ramona, Fran couldn't contain herself anymore and blurted out "so miss-er, Mrs. Lala-Ramona-lady, is it weird being married to a deaf guy when you're a singer? I mean, it's not like he can hear or appreciate your music, right?"

The faces of everyone at the table turned to her in shock (except Cal how hadn't seen her face to read her lips and Alexis who appeared on the verge of jamming a spoon up Fran's nose). Fran realized very quickly her faux pas though, covered her mouth and left the table running back inside the penthouse.

Alexis was too angry to go after her and started trying to cover up for Fran by apologizing to Ramona, poor Cal was trying to figure out what just happened when Tracey decided to take it upon himself to try and fix this mess and left the table, he found Fran pouting in a ball by the front door berating herself for having no language filter.

Tracey took a deep breath and with his hands on his hips sighed, "okay girlfriend. Don't sit there and feel sorry for yourself, you said something dumb but if Cal had heard you he would have laughed. He wouldn't have been offended."

Fran looked up from her knees with tears in her eyes, "…you called me girlfriend."

"Well, that's what you keep calling me isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

Tracey sat cross legged on the floor in front of her and handed her a tissue he had in his pocket, she hesitated a moment but took it and tried to avoid his prying eyes. "If I tell you a secret will you stop crying and come back outside and make nice-nice with everyone?"

Fran frowned. "Depends, what kind of secret?"

Grabbing his cousin Cal's wallet from the stand behind him he opened it and flipped through the photos that were crammed inside. Going through baby pictures, birthday parties and wedding photos Tracey found the one he was looking for and passed it over to her. The edges of the picture were crinkled but the picture was 4 to 5 years old tops, and in the picture was a pale looking boy with a massive head of dark, messy hair wearing roller skates and a cast on his arm. Scratches decorated his face and the grin he had was one of pure bliss. Tracey shook his head and bit his lip. "Fran, this is my secret identity."

"…what am I looking at?"

"Myself at 12. I was brutal, wild and didn't take crap from anyone. I was destructive, won't get into why right now but…my point is I did something stupid and someone said something to me one day that made me very ashamed of myself. So I cut my hair, gave up skating and poured myself into my books even more. Like, I was always a bright bulb but my wild streak didn't make anyone take me seriously. I've been censoring myself for years because of something someone said and my own guilt, and in that respect I really am different than the rest of those yahoos out there. They don't care Fran, if you had stayed out there a moment longer I guarantee you everyone would have started laughing. They like strange." Tracey tried his best to smile earnestly, but if felt stiff to him. He really wasn't great with pep talks.

Fran handed the photo back, she didn't seem to be crying anymore but her eyes were still red. "You should have kept the hair. It was cute."

"HA, no, actually that was the one thing I don't regret getting rid of. Seriously, it weighed a ton and I was always finding my house keys in it." Tracey clawed at his current head of hair remembering what a burden it used to be, he shaved half of it off on a regular basis and it was thick enough as is. He couldn't figure out how he used to manage with a full head of it so long it used to get stuck in his pants.

A hand grabbed his shoulder and he jumped to his feet and spun around, realizing it was only Cal. Tracey figured everyone had informed him of Fran's social slip up, Cal got on his knees and grinned at Fran who was trying to hide her blushing face in her hands. The Baron peered at her with his black eyes and nudged her knee with concern.

Cal made semi-circles with both hands and pointed at himself, they way he talked with a combination of audible speech and signing made Fran want to throw her arms around him and tell him to stop being so darn cute. "Come back outside? Please? My Ramona said your comment was very funny." Him beaming at her wasn't making the blush on her face back down, she could see that he had a gold tooth.

"So, Ramona doesn't hate me?" Despite her face being beet red at the painfully adorable presence of Cal, she spoke to him with her mouth visible so he could read her lips.

Cal shook his head and replied. "Nope!" He stood up and offered his hand to her, she took it with her own shaking anxiously and he helped her up.

Fran stuck and hand over her mouth on purpose and turned to face Tracey. "You cousin is making it very hard for me to resist kissing him right now!"

With a smirk Tracey covered his own mouth. "Well, I think if you did that Ramona MIGHT start to resent you."

**NOTE:** Cal is specifically speaking with ASL, in case anyone was curious. I referenced the Signing Savvy website for the signs he uses. Ramona is an obvious parody/homage to Lady Gaga and WHOOPS. Tracey was once a little badass according to my headcanon. Sorry folks.


	5. Rockets and Fire Bombs

**Paper Doll: Cut Along The Dotted Line**

**Chapter 5**

**Rockets and Fire Bombs**

"Oh my god, where is it? WHERE IS IT?"

"Right here, Fran."

"Did we line up our models yet? We need to do fittings like YESTERDAY."

"I have some girls coming, Alexis. Calm down."

Chaos was rampant at the workshop, Fran and Alexis were putting the finishing details on their pieces and doing the necessary adjustments. Tracey tried to assure them that everything was on schedule but they still ran around like they were getting chased by an axe murderer. With the new additions of Edie as one of their models (turns out that rumor going around was false) and Ramona agreeing to provide the music for their catwalk and to wear one of the creations the girls were filled to the brim with excitement and fear.

They had to do good now, this was a once in a lifetime thing they had going on. One slip up and everything would be a complete DISASTER. And that could be anything ranging from a stray thread to a crooked hem!

As Tracey was trying to confirm the measurements of one more model over the phone, there was a knock on the pink door. Tracey pardoned himself from the phone for a moment and went to answer it, he only had to crack it open for a second to see who it was and promptly shut it again and fumbled with the lock. His heart leapt into his chest and he desperately hoped the people on the other side of the door hadn't recognized him.

Alexis spotted the phone off the hook and went to hang it up, Tracey called out for her to stop and she glared at him. "What are you doing at the door when you're making a phone call?"

"There was a knock! You were busy, but Alexis…there are BAD people at the door. BAD people!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Bad people, huh? I'll take care of them." She set the headpiece she was working on down and strode over to the door, Tracey decided to go finish his phone call but he kept his eyes on her. Alexis unlocked the door and Tracey was expecting her to wallop the people on the other side as he scrawled down the last measurements and hung up, but no. Alexis welcomed the people in. She just let them walk right in.

Tracey pulled his long bangs over his face and knocked his sketchbook behind the desk, maybe if he talked in a lower pitched voice they wouldn't catch on to who he was. He was really thankful he'd opted to leave his pokemon back at the lab.

The two people Alexis had let in both wore white uniforms emblazoned with bright red letter R's, the male had blue hair falling below his ears and the female wore her red coif of hair swept back off her face. Trailing at their feet was a meowth, Tracey tried to pretend it WASN'T talking as they walked in and observed the studio area. No such luck though, Alexis introduced them to Fran who was happily puffing up the ruffles of a petticoat and then she pointed directly at Tracey.

"And this is Trace-"

"I have to go to the bathroom!" He blurted, looked around awkwardly for a moment and dashed away as fast as his legs would carry him. Finding the bathroom he locked himself inside and stared into the mirror. "They're going to recognize and remember me and hate me and ruin everything. Why did Alexis have to hire them? Does she not realize who they are? UGH! She must have met them at that party…"

At this point he had no way out, unless escaping out the window 10 feet above was possible. No, wait. He still would have to get back to Pallet down without his travel gear or pokemon. Damn, and without lock cutters the padlock and chain around his neck would still be there. Tracey had to face the music, maybe he would be lucky and they would not realize who he was?

Christ, who the hell was he kidding? His name, his voice, even they way he walked was too distinctive. Well, fine. If they realized who he was then so be it! If they didn't like it they could leave!

Yes, okay. Time to go back out and-

A knock at the door made him jump a mile high and let out and awful scream. "Uhhh…occupied!" Tracey squeaked in a not-so-intentional high voice and slapped himself in the face when he realized it.

The person on the other side replied back. "Well, when you're through I promise not to steal your Pokemon."

It was James. Crap. Hell. Damn. They already had him figured out. Tracey unlocked the door and cracked it opened about an inch, enough to reveal one disapproving eye. "…how did you know?"

James thought for a moment and scratched his head. "Well, it might have been the hair or the eyes but I think it was most definitely the sound of your voice and your name."

Tracey let the door fly open and crossed his arms. "Curse this voice of mine! But seriously, you're not lying when you say you aren't going to steal anything? My pokemon aren't here but we have some nice stuff in this studio and I swear if I find anything missing-" Tracey stopped himself before he morphed back into the wild child, took a deep breath and held his hand out.

Both James and Tracey shook hands, nodded silently in agreement and returned to the studio area. Tracey felt the need to explain his minor freak out to the girls but they were deep in conversation with Jessie showing her a brilliant red dress that she would be wearing. Maybe Team Rocket really was here on friendly terms for once.

The next few days seemed to fly by in a flurry of chiffon, beads and a few leggy models. Especially for Tracey, Fran had woken him up one morning in the loft above the studio with the surprise of rollers skates she'd found second hand at a skate shop around the corner. He didn't know what exactly she was trying to encourage with them, but he decided to use them to run errands. It had been a few years since he was last on a pair and after a few falls on his rear it was just like walking.

He had to keep reminding himself though to NOT knock into people that were in his way on the sidewalk, DON'T jump the guy in the vehicle that just cut you off at the cross walk, and certainly DO NOT punch the lights out of the idiot that commented on his sexuality as he skated by balancing a bolt of white lace on his shoulder. No, those days were behind him now. Besides, he was almost an adult now. Punching people at his age would only get him thrown in a cell at the police station for the night.

They all had work to do and Tracey couldn't ruin their efforts just because of his repressed aggressive streak. Heck, if the members of Team Rocket could put down their life of crime for a few days and help out then Tracey could certainly hold himself together.

The final piece to be completed was the finale dress, a grand white and blue wedding dress with a wide skirt and elaborate headpiece. James was to be wearing it, and with the development of a male suddenly sporting it alterations were being made right away. That also meant repairing the hoopskirt intended to puff the dress out, Cal offered his services for that stating that he put together all his wife's costumes that required metal or moving parts.

With the hoop skirt completed, all the fittings and alterations done, presentation book with the sketches , fabric samples and concept statement neatly put together the project was complete. All one day ahead of schedule. Elated at their success and relieved Fran and Alexis decided to take everyone out for drinks at a place they frequented often after a night of hard work. Tracey was thankful that it was NOTHING like the roller rink, the lights were not as bright or flashing, the music was far more muted and the place wasn't crammed to capacity with tons of people. It felt nice and contained, oddly calming and the booths scattered among the outer perimeter added some privacy to their impromptu party.

In total there was Fran and Alexis, Tracey, Jessie, James, Meowth, Edie, Cal and Ramona slipped in wearing a dark wig and sunglasses a few moments after they arrived. Alexis ordered them a round of fruity red drinks with little umbrellas in them, Edie jokingly told Tracey to cool it on the liquor as he knocked back the entire drink in one gulp as protest.

Cal tapped him on the shoulder and signed 'wait' at him. "Slow down, there's still the show tomorrow."

"Besides," Alexis leaned over and whispered. "Don't you want to hear the story of our rival, Jacob Thorne?"

"Who is the Jacob Thorne exactly?" Jessie asked out loud plucking the cherry from her drink, it matched her hair. "Is he rich and can we steal anything from him?"

Meowth immediately hopped on the table next to her and whipped out a magazine. "Don't know if he's rich, but it sure looks like he hangs out with people who have some expensive taste!" He shoved an article in her face featuring Thorne, he was in the arms of a socialite and getting very cozy.

James bounced his leg nervously and hissed at his teammates. "You promised we would keep this legitimate! No stealing!"

Alexis snorted. "I know I could care less if you stole from him or not, the guy is a colossal JERK."

The Rockets turned to her, curious.

"Hate the guy." Ramona interjected, signing something to Cal who nodded and made a face. "Bumped heads with him a few years ago when I wouldn't let him work with my design team. We turned him down kindly, only to get scathing letters in return."

"I had to pay him a visit." Cal cracked his knuckles and made a fist.

"Some of his letters got a little violent." Ramona explained, smirking at Cal and ruffling his hair. "But tough guy here scared him off, nothing bad or illegal of course."

Fran perked up and slammed both hands on the table. "OH, there was this one time I was in the fabric store and I was picking up this really bitchin' yellow taffeta for a personal project and who hits me in the hip and knocks me over into a rack of fun fur? Jacob fucking Thorne."

"Yeah I remember that because he ran off and you had to pay for the damage to the rack." Alexis added.

"The slimy asshat." Fran growled. "I swear, if he even comes CLOSE to winning this competition…I'll probably just lock myself in the loft for a month and gorge on chocolate cake and soap operas."

"Why not just out him as the idiot he is?" Tracey inquired, a miserable gaze cast down at his empty drink. He really had finished it too soon.

With a snort, Alexis shook her head and shoved her drink towards him. "Easier said than done, Tracey-boo. The guy knows people, rich and important people. He's charismatic, good looking and knows how to market his mediocre crap."

"And if you haven't noticed, Alexis and I aren't really all that endearing." Fran hung her head.

Tracey downed the drink Alexis gave him, wiped his mouth on his sleeve and slammed the glass down. "Then we make sure he doesn't win. I honestly think you have a good shot. Your collection is strong, you have one of the top models in the world walking for you, a pop star to sing your praises and you don't have to rely on being a leech to get what you want."

Noticing the fire lighting up in his eyes Edie took his empty glass away and laughed anxiously. "Okay Tracey, you need to slow down a little. But yes! You have put a lot of work into this and with our help I definitely think you guys are top contenders."

"You really think so? I know I blow smoke a lot and look like I don't care but I am anxious as hell about tomorrow." Alexis admitted and sighed loudly. "You know what? I'm ordering a round of Fire Bombs, for all of us. Except maybe you Meowth, might be a little much for such a small body."

"I ain't a drinker anyways! It's more fun watching everyone else get trashed!" The pokemon responded with a crackling laugh.

The Fire Bombs were dropped off and everyone took one, they were just shots. Cold in the glass but with an appearance of molten lava and smell thick with grenadine and oranges. Alexis pounded the table and counted to three, everyone chugged back and let the cool lava burn and numb their tongues and throats.

Waiting for the chill to blow over they made their silent pact to blow away the competition and the rest of the night dissolved into giggles and stories and jokes about Jacob Thorne being the source of all evil.


End file.
